MOBILE Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Aviation.
Mobility aids On Board Improve Lives and Empower all Act or the MOBILE Act
This bill directs the Department of Transportation (DOT) to issue regulations related to the accommodations that air carriers and foreign air carriers make for passengers with wheelchairs (including power wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, and scooters); DOT must also develop a road map and study the issue.
Specifically, air carriers must publish the dimensions of aircraft cargo holds. An air carrier must offer a full refund to an individual with a disability who is traveling with a wheelchair and cannot fly on the existing aircraft because the cargo hold cannot physically accommodate the wheelchair.
DOT must also
evaluate data on the mishandling of wheelchairs on aircraft (e.g., damages, delays, or loss) and submit a publicly available report to Congress, which must include DOT's plans to address issues in the report;
submit a strategic road map to Congress describing how DOT and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (the Access Board) will establish a research program on the feasibility of main cabin wheelchair restraint systems; and
study, if DOT first determines doing so would be technically feasible, the economic and financial feasibility of air carriers accommodating passengers with wheelchairs in the main cabin during flight.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 5, 2023. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 8, 2023: Referred to the Subcommittee on Aviation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced it on May 5, 2023, and 7 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 5 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 5, 2023, 1224 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1221 days ago, on May 8, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers